Josey Garcia

Josey Garcia is a retired U.S. Air Force combat veteran and the first woman active-duty veteran to serve in the Texas House of Representatives. Raised in the foster care system, she attended 13 schools and lived in five states by the time she reached high school. At 16, she enlisted in the Air Force through the Delayed Entry Program and went on to serve 20 years, including deployments to Cameroon and Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After retiring from the military in 2014, she became a published author and community advocate in San Antonio, co-founding Uniting America Outreach, a nonprofit that delivered over 9,000 meals during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

Grew up in the foster care system, bouncing between foster homes across five states and attending 13 schools before high school. Married to Ramon Garcia, an Army veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where he earned a Purple Heart after being shot during a combat mission. Their blended family consists of eight children, including two adult sons on the autism spectrum.